Council has created a "shopping list" of demands for a Function Junction developer looking to build 30 units of employee housing.
Among other things, council would like to know if there is a demand for housing in Whistler’s industrial park among the more than 500 people/families on the employee housing waitlist.
They would also like to see a sidewalk and street lighting as part of the deal.
For developer Don Wensley and his business partner Mark Pedlow, council’s demands at this point in time are disappointing, particularly as they feel they have been negotiating in good faith ever since they were first approached to build this project.
"After five months of time, after three council meetings and one Advisory Planning meeting and many discussions with the planning department and the Whistler Housing Authority, we are faced with a couple of members of council wanting to move the goalposts in a most unreasonable way," said Wensley, the morning after council’s Monday night decision.
The project, which will sit at the north-end of Function, is set to add 30 units of employee housing to the resort. The units will be for sale and will come in at the WHA established benchmark price of $175/square foot.
On Monday night at the public hearing for the development, a handful of residents spoke in favour of putting employee housing in Function.
Former councillor Dave Kirk, who owns property with a suite in Function, encouraged council to consider housing there.
"In my opinion there is some low hanging fruit (down there) that should be seized," he said.
Yet concerns remain about putting the project in the industrial centre.
Councillor Kristi Wells wanted to put the project on hold while council received a formal response from Whistler Transit explaining whether or not they can bring the bus to the north end of Function. She also wanted to canvass the waitlist to see what the take up would be on this project.
Her request to delay, though supported by Wade and Councillor Ken Melamed, was defeated by Councillors Gordon McKeever, Nick Davies and Mayor Hugh O’Reilly’s weighted vote. Councillor Caroline Lamont removed herself from the discussion due to a conflict of interest.
To solve the impasse, Councillor Marianne Wade came up with a list of concerns which she said needed to be addressed in order to move the project ahead.
"I would absolutely love to give affordable housing," said Councillor Marianne Wade. "This is not the best project."
Among her concerns was the lack of lighting and sidewalks in the Function Junction, a concern which was also brought up earlier that night at the public hearing. Residents in the new building would have to walk roughly 10 minutes to the closest bus stop down a busy, dirty road. Wade was concerned about safety and liability issues for the municipality.
Councillor Ken Melamed seized upon this issue of liability as a key reason to stall the project for the time being. But he opposed moving it forward on another ground entirely.
He has stated he will not approve any new development until the municipality revises its employee works and services charge bylaw which dictates how much employee housing, or financial equivalent, a developer must pay for building.
He also called this one of the least desirable employee housing projects in Whistler and was concerned that people on the waitlist may buy into this building out of sheer desperation but may not be able to sell their unit down the road once the municipality has more employee housing inventory.
Admittedly it’s not the perfect project said Councillor Gordon McKeever and it bothers him that the project is at the end of a long road without transit. But as flawed as the project is he said, it’s the best they’ve been able to come up with recently.
This council has yet to see the construction of any significant employee housing units during their two and a half years in office. They approved the Nita Lake employee housing as part of that large development but only nine townhouse units will be handed over to the WHA in the foreseeable future. Construction of the two apartment style rental units, which were also approved with the Nita Lake projects, has yet to begin.
There are a number of larger housing projects in the works which have yet to be approved.
If this project moves forward there will be no financial risk to the municipality. The developer will be responsible for selling the units to the WHA waitlist. And according to the WHA’s General Manager, that shouldn’t be a problem.
"We have more than 500 people on the waitlist and we believe there will be very strong interest in this project and the developer should have no trouble selling 30 units to people on our waitlist," said Tim Wake.
Despite the "shopping list" of concerns from council, Wensley said he is determined to move forward.
"We are not going to walk away because of a couple of silly little problems," he said.
On Monday night council gave the project second reading. The list of concerns will be addressed as it moves through the approval process.
